Engaging students in quantitative methods: real questions, real data

This paper sets out an approach to teaching ‘statistical literacy’ to social science students that is built around the need to first engage them with questions and data applications that excite them. It highlights the increasing range of accessible real world data which allow the teaching of statistics to be contextualized with data and questions that are topical, relevant and matched to the subject interests of the students being taught. The paper illustrates this approach with the example of a compulsory methods class taught by the author to Sociology undergraduates. The course is designed in a way that statistical concepts and techniques are encountered in-context and as part of a coherent research process in which the students are active participants – ‘statistics’ become the means to an end rather than an end in themselves. The approach has seen a transformation in student satisfaction scores and a new interest in developing data skills in final year options.